‘Wapda: a time to speak the truth’

No one would brush aside any suggestion for a cut in power prices. It was a pleasure to read the article, “Wapda: a time to speak the truth”, in EBR weekly of December 23-29, 02. However,most of the facts mentioned in the article are contrary to the truth.A truthful picture is presented here.

The revenue collection from power sale in the financial year 1997-98 was Rs93.3 billion. As a result of efficient moves such as plugging power theft, reduction in line losses, recovery of outstanding arrears from defaulting consumers, addition of new consumers, the financial year 2001-02 witnessed a record collection of Rs186 billion, reflecting an increase of almost 100 per cent.

The actual progressive figures depict the real situation aptly. Wapda collected Rs93.3 billion during the fiscal year 1997-98. The revenue collection from sale of power mounted to Rs122.5 billion during the financial year 1998-99 and to Rs132.3 billion during 1999-00.Revenue realization from the consumers was Rs175 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2000-01.

The recovery from sale of power rose to Rs186.5 billion during financial year ending June 30,02. But it is indeed strange that the author of the above-mentioned article,who was also managing director of the KESC, and Member (Power) Wapda never criticised these figures during his two above-mentioned tenures.

It is quite evident that the progress did not occur in a short while. Vigorous efforts were made to recover receivables from private as well as public sector. Wapda records reflect that the receivables have decreased from Rs61.404 billion ending December, 1998 to Rs45.30 billion ending June, 2002 in spite of an increase in the billing from Rs127.9 to Rs188.9 billion during this period.

The recovery of power bills issued against the consumption of electrical energy in private sector had risen by almost 100 per cent during the period under review.

No doubt, primarily the grey areas in this regard were and still remain : Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan’s agriculture sector are areas where recovery is not satisfactory in view of socio-economic and law and order problems. And despite these unavoidable odds, recovery has been almost 100 per cent during the last two fiscal years, 2000-01 and 2001-02. One fails to understand as to how one can deny that the revenue collection was not Rs186.5 billion?

As regards criticism regarding line losses, the actual line losses were 42 per cent of the total power generation in the year 1997-98. These losses were cut down to 32 per cent in the year 1998-99, to 27 per cent in 1999-00, to 25.8 per cent in 2000-01 and to 25.7 per cent at the end of financial year 2001-02 according to the record. The difference and improvement in this area is obvious and could easily be verified.

The management is focusing all its efforts on rooting out power theft. As a result of the concerted efforts, 1,255,341 consumers were found guilty of power theft in the routine door-to-door checking by surveillance teams and detection bills amounting to Rs6,965 million were charged during the period from January 1999 onwards.

Wapda has planned to rehabilitate its distribution system at an expenditure of Rs3.2 billion to further reduce the technical losses during the current financial year. The power distribution companies have already been allocated the required funds in this sector.

It is a well known fact that the IPP’s tariff is front-loaded because these projects have been financed through commercial loans from international funding agencies having repayment period of 10-12 years as against the plant life of about 30 years. Due to this, debt servicing is higher in the initial years but declines over time as the loans are paid. Capacity payments to the IPPs have resulted in saving of around $6 billion over the life of the projects which is an appreciable achievement of the management.

The generation has increased from 53,259 million kilowatt hours (mkwh) in 1997-98 to 60,860 mkwh in 2001-02, reflecting 14 per cent increase in the demand of electricity.

Purchases in Wapda are made through transparent process of bidding or tendering. International tendering system is evolved to ensure fair competition amongst the bidders. During the current financial year 2002-03 alone Rs 470 million have been saved in purchase of meters, conductors and PVC 2 core cable due to transparent and competitive bidding.

Single-phase energy meters were purchased at a rate of Rs1214 per piece during 1997-98 and during 2002-03, six lakh meters have been purchased at the rate of Rs850 per piece despite inflation.

The utility price mainly depends on input costs and any increase in furnace oil and gas prices seriously affect the thermal power generation price. It is worth mentioning that increase in tariff allowed during last four years is around 17 per cent whereas the prices of furnace oil and gas increased by 136.4 per cent and 101.9 per cent respectively.

The management has made successful efforts to improve Wapda’s thermal power generation system with a special reference to the maintenance of its thermal plants. The process continues as per technical requirements and availability of funds.

The management is handling its affairs in professional manner with the help of a bigger lot of honest and committed officers and employees in its folds.

The management has evolved a new culture within Wapda and among its consumers. Therefore all the achievements and improvements in all departments of operation— financial as well as development viability—cannot be ignored.

KHALID AHMAD,

PRO, Wapda

Lahore

MMA: theory and practice

DURING its election campaign, the MMA promised that it was not going to give the country a repressive and fanatical outlook. What it is doing now in the NWFP is a complete repudiation of this promise.

The MMA talks about the supremacy of the Constitution and parliament but it forgets that foreign policy and the control of international borders are the responsibility of the federal government and not of the provincial ones. By their irresponsible statements and conduct, its leaders are endangering national security.

If the federal government imposes governor’s rule in the NWPF for the sake of national security and because the provincial government has turned away from its stand outlined during the election campaign, it will be within its rights to do so.

The MMA does not realize that it is standing at the crossroads. It can show to the world that an alliance based on religion can be fair, pragmatic, democratic and fully cognizant of the rights of all citizens regardless of their religion, race and gender. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, its middle and lower-middle classes have a sizable representation in the National Assembly in the form of the MMA.

Instead of wasting its energy in pursuit of illogical goals based on a myopic vision, the MMA can help transform the country into a true social, welfare state by focussing on the country’s real problems such as feudalism, lack of educational opportunities, child labour, lack of equality for women, corruption and lawlessness.

Perhaps, it is asking too much of the MMA but by defying its natural disposition, it can help change the course of history. Like always, the majority of the present legislators are feudal lords and professional politicians.

History proves that their interest and the interest of the masses cannot converge. It is truly tragic that the MMA, the only political force that can bring about a meaningful social transformation in the current situation, is looking the wrong way.

I was one of those optimistic idealists who, in the name of democracy, welcomed the MMA’s rise to prominence. If there is governor’s rule in the NWFP, it will be detrimental to the cause of democracy in Pakistan and will turn a group of fanatics into victims.

I hope the MMA will see the writing on the wall, shun its irresponsible and fanatical approach and help Pakistan pursue the path of social justice, freedom, progress, equality and pragmatism.

SIDDIQUE MALIK

Louisville, USA

Need for tobacco control

THE “Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smoker Health” Ordinance was promulgated in October 2002, but no practical steps have yet been taken to implement this law.

Smoking and tobacco-related diseases are on the rise in Pakistan. Tobacco is extremely addictive, with the result that many smokers find themselves in a lifelong battle to quit it. Tobacco is also highly toxic and was responsible for killing 4.9 million people in the world last year. WHO has predicted that if the growing use of tobacco, specially in the developing world, is not curtailed the death toll could rise to 10 million per year by 2025.

In recent years, tobacco companies have intensified their promotional activities aimed at children and youth. Through television, billboards and print media youngsters are being enticed to take part in lucky draws, see their favourite pop stars endorse cigarette brands and watch sporting events being sponsored by tobacco companies.

Last year, a tobacco company started a campaign promoting smoking as an “adult activity” by advertising it as being for above 18 years only. This makes our youngsters believe that smoking is somehow a cool, glamorous yet a slightly risky act.

The main risk in smoking is not only that it is highly addictive but it kills half of its regular users prematurely. Research studies have proven beyond doubt that tobacco advertisements have a strong influence on children, particularly teenagers. Almost all regular smokers start smoking before the age of 18 and advertisements play a major role in young people taking up this powerful addiction.

So far, legal action taken to ban tobacco advertising in Pakistan has not been successful. Three years ago, the Pakistan Medical Association filed a case against tobacco advertisements in the Sindh High Court, but the hearing is yet to start on this very important public health matter. Taking notice of similar kinds of promotional activities by tobacco companies in Bangladesh, last month the high court there announced a ban on such advertising. Unfortunately, despite repeated demands by the medical community, PTV seems too addicted to tobacco money to take any action in this regard.

I therefore urge the concerned authorities in Pakistan to take practical steps in order to implement the Smoking Prohibition Ordinance. The recent announcement by a tobacco company in Pakistan that it would voluntarily refrain from advertising on television and radio will not help in controlling tobacco use. All forms of tobacco advertising, including billboards and sponsorship of sports and musical events, must also be banned. This single step will go a along way in saving thousands of precious lives which are lost every day in Pakistan because of tobacco use.

PROF JAVAID KHAN

Karachi

Metro for Karachi

WITH reference to your editorial, ‘Metro example’, I would like to say that, even in the case of Delhi, the metro issue has been fiercely debated for years.

Delhi should have had its metro long ago. We are paying the price for the delay in the form of high- vehicle density and pollution that is only now being reduced by the CNG and flyovers.

The urban transport requirements of Delhi and Karachi seem similar — two large, sprawling mega cities that are solely dependent on road transport, unlike Mumbay, Kolkata or Madras.

With the launch of the Delhi Metro, Bangalore is planning to have its own metro in five years’ time and soon other growing cities will follow suit.

Ultimately, what is required is to just start building a metro for Karachi. Once Karachi gets its metro, it won’t be long before Lahore and other big cities get theirs, too.

J. JAGAN MOHAN

New Delhi, India

ALTHOUGH one cannot underestimate the importance of an efficient, economical and environment-friendly mass transit system for Karachi and Lahore, the idea of an underground transport system remains doubtful.

A major concern is our inability to protect such a system from acts of terrorism. Countless acts of terror have been aborted in the recent years in Japan and England because of the close vigilance of law-enforcement agencies in both the countries.

If we establish an underground transport system, who can guarantee that a round-the-clock vigilance will be kept by the police in Pakistan? Such a system can be turned into a mass grave by acts of terror unless security is adequately maintained.

NADEEM ZAFAR

California, USA

Cloning destroys bonds of kinship

ON Jan 3, Clonaid, a private company advocating human cloning, claimed that a second human baby clone had been born.

Cloning is the copy of a living thing, in this case, a human being. A human clone is a “genetic copy” of an individual.

Cloning could never occur were it not for the fact that Allah Almighty has given the human egg the necessary properties for cloning to occur. This is why human clones do exist in the form of identical twins. Such clones are the exact copies of each other but not of the parents, because they take some characteristics from the mother and some from the father.

As for the clones that Clonaid claims have been born, they are not the result of the union of a mother and a father, rather they are the result of copying a single parent.

Such babies either have a mother or a father, but not both. These clones, if they do exist, are merely the product of manipulation of the laws that Allah has placed in the human egg. However, just because an action can be done, it does not mean that Allah has made it legal.

Islam, as a complete way of life, organizes the relationship of men and women and has specified the way by which human beings reproduce so as to preserve the ties of kinship.

In Islam, a mother and a father are tied in marriage at the time of conceiving a child together. Hence, adultery and fornication are forbidden.

As for the cloning that Clonaid claims to have performed, the child has either no father or no mother, which is also forbidden.

DR IFTEKHAR AHMAD

Lahore

Nadra’s poor performance

THIS refers to Jehanzeb Aziz’s letter, ‘Nadra’s reply to applicants’ (Jan 6).

Every sane person knows that the issuance of a national identity card goes through a process so as to eliminate chances of fraudulent or criminal intentions.

The NIC will be issued only to eligible citizens of Pakistan. This is all very good. There is no harm in conducting investigations. Do investigate but what about the applicants who have been waiting for their cards since April 2001?

Who will be responsible for wrong identification marks, wrong addresses on the new cards, duplication of cards — one from the head office and the other from the so-called swift centre?

Can Mr Aziz clarify what is the necessity of the validity of the new cards? And if at all it is necessary, why is there a difference in the validity dates in the cards of a man and his wife?

Sorry, Mr Aziz, the helpline (111-162-372) is always busy. I tried for two hours before writing this letter and I am sure the helpline will remain busy as millions of applicants waiting for their computerized identity cards will be trying this number.

Will someone let me know the e-mail address of Nadra in Islamabad so that I can directly inform its authorities of my grievances?

IMTIAZ FAROOQ QURESHI

Karachi

Invisible killings

WHEN some Israelis are killed or injured in an attack, TV news networks are quick to cut their normal bulletin for airing such an event as the “breaking news”. Harrowing footage from the scene and interviews with outraged Israeli government officials are swiftly telecast and harsh statements promptly issued by the government and UN officials.

Meanwhile, the continuing killing of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, by the Israeli occupation army goes largely unnoticed and unreported.

By consistently highlighting the sufferings of Israelis, and downplaying or ignoring the killing of Palestinians, the international media creates the impression that “Palestinian” attacks are the principal feature of the conflict.

The statistics issued by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society unambiguously dispels this impression. A total of 1,926 Palestinians were killed and more that 21,000 wounded between Sept 29, 2000 and Dec 8, 2002. The total number of those killed is 669 since the Israel’s reoccupation of the West Bank began in March 2002.

The figures for November 2002 are horrifying. Forty-three Palestinian civilians were killed during this period and dozens wounded or permanently maimed. Fifteen of those killed and several dozen of those injured were children between the ages three and 18.

I think these figures are enough to open the eyes of the international human rights agencies and the United Nations peace commissions.

RAHIM PANJWANI

Karachi

PIA passenger’s complaint

MY son travelled by PK-723 to New York from Karachi on Jan 2. One of his bags carrying tag No. PK-455209 did not reach New York.

He lodged a complaint with the airline staff at JFK airport and was told to contact them in a couple of days on phone 718-636-4030 (Ext. 114).

He had to take an onward flight to Rochester, which he did. Since that day, he has been continuously calling that number but there has been no answer.

Needless to say, the bag contained valuables as well as reading material for his studies. The missing bag has landed him in a most inconvenient situation.

Will somebody in PIA let me know as to what has happened to the baggage?

IMTIAZ AGBOATWALA

Karachi

Free education in Punjab

THE Punjab governor’s decision to make education free up to the high school level is indeed a step in the right direction.

I hope that the governors of the other provinces, too, will follow suit and make high school education free and compulsory for all children.

SANOBER Q. HAIDER

Princeton, USA

Refusing visas to Pakistanis

SOME recent news items have left me wondering as to whether we, the Pakistanis, really deserve better treatment or we are victims of our own wrongdoings.

First there was a report about refusal of visa by Belgium to our squash players participating in an international tournament.

This was followed by a refusal by the Germans in granting visa to our trade delegation at one of their trade fairs and that, too, after the businessmen concerned had made substantial investments in booking stalls and dispatching material to Germany.

Thirdly, there was denial of visa to one of our officials wanting to attend a cricket conference in India. And lastly, a widely-acclaimed personality like Asma Jehangir was not allowed to attend a conference in India.

All the above cases were genuine and there was no reason for the governments concerned to deny them visas. Moreover, after the unstinted support given by Pakistan to the US and other Europian countries for the war against terrorism, we should have been granted the status of a favoured nation rather than be treated as pariahs or social outcasts.

I believe it is time our government let it be known to these countries that such discriminations may lead to non-cooperation in matters which are of importance to them. If this is not possible, we can at least lodge a strong protest and tell them that we have the right to retaliate.

IQBAL AHMED

Karachi

Driving licence office

LAST week I had to visit the driving licence office. Believe me, it’s worse than any other government office in the city.

To obtain a form for a licence, it is mandatory to get it from a photostat shop adjacent to the office. The unauthorized people will not only sell it to you but also fill it for you (even if you don’t want to), get you the medical stamp (without a proper medical check-up being done) and charge you a hefty amount for it.

The traffic police officials are doing nothing but misguiding the people there, making the illiterate people miserable. The officials misbehave with the people and if they resist or do not listen to them, the poor applicants would never get a licence until someone else takes over the department.

I was told to get the ‘learners’ book from the ‘help’ counter but even at 11 in the morning, the men at the counter were having their tea. They advised me to go to a post office. When I approached the post office the postal officials laughed at me and asked me to go back to the licence office as they didn’t have those forms.

The question is: why do people prefer to drive with expired licenses than to go and get them renewed?

SAMBEG

Karachi

More equal than others

WITHOUT a doubt, Kuldip Nayyar is a friend of Pakistan and the Pakistanis. This is evident from his writings on subjects relating to the subcontinent. He is also an unbiased and unprejudiced writer because, where necessary, he makes scathing criticism of India’s policies and programmes and does not shout “Mera Bharat Mahaan” from rooftops, as most of his fellow scribes, politicians and even creative people do nowadays.

I have had the privilege of speaking to him while in India with a group of Pakistani schoolboys in 1997 and 2001 and he certainly has a passion for Pakistan-India friendship. That is why one would like to say that not only Mubashir Hasan but also many more Pakistanis should have been present at the Wagah border to welcome Kuldip Nayyar with a warm embrace.

A friend of mine, a schoolteacher in Karachi, saves throughout the year so that his wife and he can travel to Hyderabad (Deccan) to meet their families. The wife particularly looks forward to this annual travel to meet her sisters some of whom are not particularly well off to make the journey to Pakistan to meet their sister and brother-in-law. One year when the wife was unwell and a lot of money was spent on her medical treatment, my friend sold his old car to pay for the airfare to Hyderabad (Deccan) and back. “My motorcycle is good enough for my wife and I to move around and for my travel to schools,” said the friend with modesty.

In May 2001 I called my friend Sudhir Vyas, acting Indian High Commissioner, to enquire if my friend and his wife could travel via Wagah by walking across the no-man’s land even, if necessary, by carrying their own baggage if Pakistani and Indian collies have long since moved elsewhere to make their living. Mr Vyas replied.... well, never mind his actual words, but the crux of the matter was that there was no way anyone could cross the border even on foot. Then he went on to joke that perhaps both of us could start a travel agency to arrange travel to India via Dubai which is turning out to be more lucrative than a round-trip to London from Pakistan and vice versa. The friend skipped the travel in 2002.

Why then was Kuldip Nayyar allowed to perform the same journey across the no-man’s land, his nostalgia for the same trip undertaken 55 years ago notwithstanding. His love for our people deeply honoured. Why should there be two sets of laws for people with differing backgrounds? Indeed, why should a hue and cry be made over the fact that Asma Jehangir, Mubashir Hasan and I. A. Rehman had been refused visas to visit India recently? Thousands upon thousands of Pakistanis and Indians have been refused visas to travel to the other country and their travels and meetings have not made life any easier for the peoples of the two countries and are not likely to do so in the future if the governments on sides of the divide continue to be pig-headed!

ANWAR ABBAS

President, Pakistan-India People’s Forum, (Karachi Chapter),

Karachi